abandoned

on one of my country road trips i found this abandoned house

since no one was around and i was feeling brave

i decided to take a closer look

the kitchen had the best grunge and texture

from the floor to the ceiling

the upstairs bedrooms had the best wallpaper

i wish i had gotten a sample

one thing always leads to another

for weeks now i have been working on a flagstone patio

first i had to dig up the sod, then level the ground, added some fabric screening and

i was ready to head to the local landscaping store

4 trips with 200lbs each

did i mention i love my bug!!! it's great for any job

once i got all the stone moved from the car to the backyard the puzzle began

it took me several day to finally get it just right

i used sand to level and heighten some of the stones

once it settles a bit i will add in the mortar

while i was at the landscaping store i found some really interesting rocks

and of course the forklift had some great texture on it

which lead me to photoshop where i converted it to b/w and added it to my poppy photo

i duplicated the poppy  and texture photos several times

tried on several filters and played with all the blending modes

finally i added a layer mask from shadowhouse

happy easter

wishing everyone a wonderful weekend

above, a shot from a local cemetery, a few grunge layers and some text
i used the burn tool on the edges

post no bill! texture challenge

no matter where you go in the city

you can always find a construction wall that says

POST NO BILLS

layers and layers of paper weathered and torn

i usually take hundreds of photos

just one small section can create an interesting texture layer in ps

a little graffiti makes it fun

for this weeks texture challenge i have 8 new textures

created from billboards found on my flickr

if you want to play along please email me your work using my textures
and i will post results next tuesday
enjoy!

u.s. grunge

while i was visiting woodstock, ny

i manage to take just as many "grunge and texture" photos

i love the cracks in this sign

below, i converted it to b/w, used threshold and stamp filters

and inverted it, i will use it as a layer mask

this friday i will start marie otero's online class

i'm sure i will create some cool stuff!!!

street grunge project

lately, as the snow has melted

it has revealed some interesting grunge

which i love

i'm always looking for texture to photograph

they add wonderful interest to any photo

even a simple tree

one thing i always notice is telephone poles

this one caught my eye

i played with the hue/saturation and cropped it

after trying it "on" several photos and

playing with all the different blending modes

i used the "difference" for the above tree

and "vivid light" for the photo below

like marie says

where layers count

sometimes less is more

daylight robbery solution

catching up on my blog reading since my technical difficulties

i was visiting my friend marie and her post out and about in nyc

it is wonderful to see how my friends spend their days

and her photos are always stunning

as i got to the end of the posting

i laughed at her conversation with her DH

------

"since when did a sandwich and coffee cost that much?"

DH goes..... "well, it's new york"

i go....... " it's day light robbery"

------

i'm sure i've had this conversation with my friends

out and about in toronto

sometimes you just want a quick lunch

soup and share a sandwich or salad

with a coffee or tea

and its $30-$40

-------

well i'm here to tell you that sometimes you find a deal

or get your monies worth

even in a trendy neighbourhood

i take classes in the distillery every wednesday

and as a treat i will head over to the brick street bakery

above, left my lunch, a vegetarian with bacon!!!( i know. i know)

with a bottle water and a chocolate chip cookie for $12!
you can also get a blt for $4.50 /$5 with cheese

boxing day (turkey) $8

pulled pork $9

and of course they have all the sweets you can image

while i waited for my meal

i managed to get a few shots of some grunge with my i-phone

camera bag plastic



camera bag infrared

country grunge

on my country visit last week

i managed to find lots of grunge

above one of a bag full of rusted bed springs

not sure what i will do with them

but the perfect project will come along

i knew this sign would make a great grunge layer in ps

i've already used this in several projects

(see the 2 previous posts)

somebody's watching

encaustic class

sometimes when i get to class i have no idea what i'm going to do

today i had several boards to scrap down

(work i decided not to finish)

in the process of heating and scrapping

i liked what was happening

another happy accident

once i got home i decided to play with the photos in ps

making some cool grunge layers

adding some text and a frame

once i added a photo and tried on every blending mode
i ended up with this

playing around

with a little time today

i found a bunch of photos

taken a few weeks ago

all of telephone poles

they where just so grungy

above
a pole completely covered in tape

a few tweaks in ps and it looked

like a great background layer

then i found one of my statue photos from paris

some greek letters and a page form a math book

a few more texture layers

one from shadowhouse

lots of playing around

i must have tried every blending mode

and finally came up with this!

i wish i had time to play all day

country grunge

everyone knows i love texture

grunge of any kind

so last weekend on our country road excursion

we spotted this tractor museum

it wasn't open for business

but the front was filled with old tractors and parts

i was in grunge heaven!!!

there was so much

i couldn't take the photos fast enough!!!


i take a lot of these types of photos
they make great texture layers in photoshop

here's one quick example

on the left part of a tractor and

on the right the roof of the museum

with the textured added

i used the overlay blending mode

set the opacity at 60%

and used the eraser to scrub away some areas

around the windmill
it just give the sky a little interest

i love texture

i'm on day seven of my paris photos

which was one of my favorite days

we wondered for at least 6 hours through

the cimetiere du pere-lachaise

i could have spent at least another day


it was very overwhelming
so many details

i took over 800 photos
mostly of the rust!!!